Baby Critically Hurt In Oxford Crash Dies

OXFORD (CBS) – A baby critically injured in a crash in Oxford that killed his mother Monday has died.

The 9-month-old boy was in a Chevrolet Cavalier driven by his mother that crossed the center line on Route 20 and collided with a cement truck and another car.

The driver of the Chevrolet, 31-year-old Christina Russin of Sturbridge, was killed. Another passenger in her car, her 2-year-old son Carter, suffered serious injuries, according to his aunt.

Russin's 9-month-old son Noah had been on life support at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. State Police said he died on Monday.

"It's sad she was a wonderful mom , we lost a beautiful little baby," said Paula Coggeshall, Russin's aunt. "They're together, Noah and Christina are together and that's a help."

Coggeshall said 2-year-old Carter is improving and is expected to be released from the hospital in a few days.  State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said the child is in critical but stable condition.

The truck driver and two others were hurt in the crash.

Russin's car careened into Robespierre Lafleur's Mercedes after it hit the cement truck. He and his son got out to help. "That's when my son said 'Dad she's gone,'" Lafleur told WBZ-TV's Ken MacLeod.

The tragedy brought Lisa Brodeur back to the stretch of the roadway on Tuesday, where a drunk driver killed her husband and paralyzed her son eighteen years ago.

"We need barriers," Brodeur says. "We cannot wait ten years or more for barriers, we need them now."

The DOT says safety improvements are on the long term drawing board.

There have been no charges at this point in the investigation. The cause of the crash is still not known.

Witnesses say it was Russin that crossed into oncoming traffic. Her aunt asks that the public not rush to judgment. "You can't assume she was on the phone, she was distracted," Coggeshall says. "It's a bad corner, accidents happen."

Russin was a single mother who had three boys. Her oldest child was at school at the time of the crash.

Russin worked part-time as a counselor for troubled teens in Worcester and was on her way to drop off her youngest children at a relative's home when they crashed.